91 



Third, they believe implementation would impose a significant 

 administrative burden arising from case-by-case considerations of 

 company requests for support. SBA officials told us that 

 implementation would lead to difficulties because there would be a 

 need for review and approval of each small award ($4,000 or less) 

 to each awardee that requested funding. 



Fourth, they feel that specific proposed technical assistance 

 requirements, such as a single vendor of technical assistance for 

 each agency, are unrealistic because one vendor could not respond 

 adequately to potentially hundreds of requests. 



Program officials, however, have taken steps, independent of 

 the provision, to provide assistance with commercialization. For 

 example, DOE has provided special training sessions and conferences 

 on commercialization for its awardees . DOE's SBIR manager told us 

 that the second training session, conducted in 1991, has proven 

 very successful. He noted that 43 percent of the companies 

 participating in the session have received additional, non-SBIR 

 funding, which has totaled $14 million as of July 1994 with a 

 further $24 million expected over the next 3 to 5 years. He also 

 believes that the sessions in 1993 and 1994 will prove successful 

 but indicated that more time is needed for results to emerge. 



In DOD's commercialization efforts, we found several new 

 initiatives. The most striking was the special strategy adopted by 

 the Navy's program manager for emphasizing the importance of 

 commercialization. Starting in 1994, a company must have a plan 

 for commercialization in order to receive the last 20 percent of 

 each phase II award. Because funding for Navy SBIR phase II awards 

 is set at about $750,000, the 20 percent holdback amounts to 

 $150,000 and is encouraging companies to take commercialization 

 seriously. 



